


Into the Great Unknown

by james



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Elements of Horror, Future Fic, Gen, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 01:05:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8947075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/james/pseuds/james
Summary: In the future, Stone wonders about what happened.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Yonkyu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yonkyu/gifts).



The files are lost -- maybe not forever lost, but lost enough. As a Librarian the thought disturbs him; as someone who has to get through his day without going mad, Stone mostly just tries not to think about it. Tries not to let the others talk about it, which is more difficult at times than it ought. They're all in the same boat, as it were.

Maybe the others don't mind going mad. Maybe they already are. Stone doesn't know; he suspects they were all slightly off to begin with, but of course he can't say for certain because the files are lost.

Sometimes he thinks about sneaking into the mainframe, find the navigation system and turn the ship around, head them back to Earth. He knows he won't, mostly because he can't get away with it. Jones has always been better at computer systems, and Stone knows that anything he does, Jones will undo -- and probably lock him out of further attempts.

Not to mention the mocking. He'd like to avoid giving Jones reasons to mock him.

He doesn't understand why the others seem so content, out here. Sailing across the galaxy in a spaceship, collecting all the information they possibly can, storing it and archiving it for the Library.

It should be a dream come true, it should be unbelievably amazing. And it is. The civilizations they discover are beyond description, the libraries they copy and add to their database increase their potential for knowledge exponentially. It's exciting work, and every new stop brings wonders and delights and horrors and mysteries the like they could never have imagined.

Usually it's enough. A reward for their hard work, Cillian tells them, practically shining with the glow of excitement. Just meeting these strange aliens -- not all of whom want to kill them at first sight, some of whom have their own Libraries and Librarians and meeting them face to face (or whatever) leads to days of just soaking everything in.

Once in a while there is a week or month-long celebration at their arrival. Once or twice there is all-out war.

It's worth it. Cataloging and storing all the known data of the universe; it's enough most of the time. But sometimes, in the long dark sailing of the ship between worlds, Stone wonders.

How long have they been doing this. Why can't they talk about going home. Why are the maps to Earth so carefully deleted from their files.

What happened to their original, human bodies, and just how long ago did they begin this journey, stored intelligences in a computer system he cannot fully fathom, conducting their work and continuing on, with no real idea of what is waiting for them at the end.

If there will ever be an end.

What happened at their beginning.


End file.
